UPDATE: Phoenix settles Gotbaum case
Author:Date: October 19th, 2009
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The City of Phoenix announced today that it has reached a $250,000 settlement with the children of Carol Gotbaum, a New York resident whose untimely death at Sky Harbor International Airport was detailed by PHOENIX magazine last year.
Gotbaum died in September 2007 while in police custody, touching off a two-year legal battle between her family and the Phoenix Police Department. According to press reports, the city’s insurance carrier will pay the settlement to Gotbaum’s three children without using any public funds. The Arizona Republic quotes police officials saying it was meant to minimize the costs of the case, which had originally sought $5.5 million in damages.
The county medical examiner says Gotbaum strangled herself in her shackles, but that would be oversimplifying what happened. PHOENIX Magazine writer Jana Bommersbach spent hours pouring over police and court records to recap every detail before and after Gotbaum’s death for our April 2008 edition (Carol’s Broken Dreams, page 182). The grainy photos and amazing illustration only add to this sad drama.
For those who want more than the Republic’s four-paragraph summary of the incident, you can dive into Bommersbach’s story here. The result is a compelling tale for mothers, families and travelers everywhere.